Archive for April, 2007

Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg, VA is collecting 8 x 8 inch squares to assemble into blankets for the families of the fallen Hokies. The squares can be knitted or crocheted in maroon, burnt orange, white or black out of the nicest, softest yarn you can afford. For you advanced knitters out there, Talk is Sheep is putting together an intarsia Hokie pattern.

I am going to coordinate a shipment of squares at the end of May for anyone locally who wants to contribute. You can drop squares off to me at the following events:

Saturday, May 19th at the Omaha Public Library from 11 am – 2 pm: I can’t make this event, but Christy will be collecting squares for me.

If you can’t make one of those events, let me know in the comments and we’ll make other drop off plans. I’ll be posting reminders throughout the month of May. Let’s make sure the Hokie Nation knows that they are in our thoughts!

We are buying two tickets for the Frederick “String Fest” Benefit Concert on Sunday, May 6th at Tuscarora High School in Frederick, MD. However, we are not going to be in Maryland to attend. So, that means free date night for two lincolnblog readers! The lineup sounds great:

Strings Students from Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School

Strings Students from the Maryland Talent Education Center

Peabody Violin Choir, Peabody Conservatory

Guest Musicians from Maryland Symphony Orchestra

Guest Musicians from National Philharmonic

Guest Conductor: Elizabeth Schulze, Music Director of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of New York Philharmonic

Plus, there’s plenty to do and lots of nice places to eat in Frederick. You could make a whole day trip out of it! Just send me an email or leave a note in the comments and the tickets are yours!

So my posting streak has come to an end. I was on a roll, wasn’t I? I’ll be back soon. Bella is crawling all over the place and is hungry all the time. That means less sleep for me and less brain power for blog posts. Maybe I’ll get some pictures up in the meantime.

Yesterday presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani got a lot of flack for not knowing how much milk and bread cost at the grocery store. His guesses were way off from the prices in his neighborhood grocery stores. (Dang! Does milk really cost over $4 in NY? Wow!) When I first heard this story, I laughed. Then I thought: “How much is milk at Super Saver?” Hmmmm…

The fact is that I don’t know the price of a lot of the grocery items I purchase. I know the organic milk that we like costs more than regular milk. I know that the rice milk I’ve been using because of M costs more than that, but I can buy that at Walmart to save some money and store it in the pantry. I also don’t know how much a dozen eggs cost. I think the bread we buy is somewhere between $2-3 dollars.

Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. Maybe Rudy doesn’t do the grocery shopping. I’m usually the one who goes to the store, although T did most of the shopping while I was pregnant because ew! the meat aisle! But seriously, we buy all of our breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks at the grocery store — we only eat dinner and lunch out once a week. I buy a lot of the same thing every trip: bag of onions, dried and canned beans, chicken, eggs, frozen broccoli, etc. I couldn’t tell you what they cost either. I go to the store with a list. I buy only what we need. I mean, if you need milk, then you need milk. Right?

So am I weird? Do you know the cost of milk and bread? What about the other items on your grocery list?

I spent the past few days cleaning out my closet. I haven’t done a major closet clean out in over two years. Here are the results:

I found $4. (Only $4! I thought all of that time would result in more dough.)

I found my passport. (This was the reason why I started the major clean out.)

I found clothes that I had forgotten I had. Clothes I really like!

I found that I fit in a lot of clothes that I hadn’t fit in before I even got pregnant. (Thank you breastfeeding metabolism!)

I boxed up all of my maternity clothes.

I boxed up clothes to be sold on ebay for Spring and Summer.

I boxed up clothes to be sold on ebay for Fall and Winter.

I have three big bags of clothes ready for donation.

What did M do all this time? She explored every nook and cranny of our bedroom. Yep, she’s really getting the hang of crawling. She only scoots now when she’s too tired to crawl. Here favorite spots in the bedroom:

The air vent. (Hey, there’s something blowing in my face. Cool!)

Chloe’s fur covered pillow. (Ew. Gross. I had to move that out of the room because M was too fascinated with it.)

Our big mirror that leans against the wall. (Hey, there’s another baby in there! Can I get her into my mouth?)

Ok, enough is enough. I ordered replacement needles for you last Friday. The game is over. You won. There’s no need for you to wait for your replacements to actually be delivered. Seriously. You can come out now.

When people ask me what Mirabella needs these days, my first answer is always, “No more stuffed animals or dolls!” However, I’m her mom, and I haven’t really bought her much of anything, so the rule doesn’t apply to me. Yesterday I had to buy some yarn from Knit Picks to finish a project that is on the needles and I was below the minimum for free shipping. I decided to get the yarn I need to make Lulu. I’ve been planning to knit her for awhile, but I really needed a reason to spend the money. Running out of yarn for my current project was just the gentle push I needed. I also bought replacement size six needles for the ones I lost a few months ago. I predict I will find those little buggers in the next few days.

Do you ever come away from a conversation and hours later think, “I wish I had said that.” I had one of those moments the other night and it won’t stop echoing in my head so I’m just going to post it.

I was talking about blogs with some folks and was caught off guard by some of their comments. “Putting your personal information on the Internet for all to read is just stupid.” “If you want to keep in touch with family, just send an email.” Actually, I think I was more caught off guard by the tone of the words and not the words so much. I hear the words a lot. I never have heard such a tone, though. It was, to me, a little hostile. (I want to emphasize to me because I think I reacted probably more personally than I should have.)

So, the tone made me a little defensive and I started explaining all the reasons why I blog and how it’s easier than email and that I really don’t share that much personal information on the internet (relatively speaking) and blah blah blah. Then I got home and had some time to reflect on the conversation. Here’s what I discovered:

I like writing entries and posting pictures. I like that readers can interact with me and each other in the comments. I like going back and reading entries from a year ago and looking at pictures of our move out to Nebraska. I like to hear that M’s grandparents are watching her videos over and over and over again. (I do that, too!) I like that I am able to stay in touch with family, friends, colleagues from previous jobs, and yes, people I’ve met online that I’ve never met in person.

Then I realized what I should have said, and wished I would have said.